With seven people having so far completed the ASRL survey, I'm getting a mixed message. There's a small but vocal majority who think the game has become needlessly complicated at the expense of fun.

So, in the interests of doing whatever I can to improve the game, I'm curious as to what can be done. Obviously we need some form of contract system from both a realism perspective and to prevent it being the same top eight every year - but the current one does come across as very daunting to new coaches (I've lost three prospective coaches when they've attempted to tackle the contract system).

I'd also like to see the finances system modified somewhat. It's been pointed out that money is perhaps a little too easy to obtain - and this renders budgetting for training, TV games, and article writing somewhat useless. I also think that I liked the game a little more when we had attendances, making stadium upgrades and location important.

YouBetSports/ASRL Sportsbet really needs a permanent and reliable moderator to keep it alive. Since Steve Simmons' departure we've had two people tackle the job and give it up - and I don't have the time to add it to my responsibilities.

What else? I guess that's up to you. Obviously I'll be able to draw quite a bit from the surveys, but feel free to use this thread to further explain your views. I know the space allowed in the survey wasn't great.

Contracts are fine... give it a few seasons to see how it all pans out. I think it's fine.... as Roger has added in the forum, a marquee player is the only addition which could be fixed.

I think that finance is fine.... perhaps only give money to coaches who submit their side?

Roger/myself can do ASRL betting

Finance is in my opinon not fine... It would be cool if something like buying form was a privelage. It would be cool if depth played a bit more part if i cant afford to pay physio. Be cool to give people reasons to write articles. Having stadium income and stuff like that would be cool due to the crowds, more incentive and reward when you get tv games.

We'll have to 'wait and see' how contracts work out, but i think Chris/Magro/Roger should really help new coaches when they are doing contracts, because if they do contracts, then leave, they leave the next coach with the problem. When i say that, i mean i had a peak at Waikato's contracts and they had woolford on for three years, with toutai kefu and Jeremy Paul and matt Geyer on for 4. These are guys who probly wont be around for that long, and the club could use those years retaining other quality players. And if they are around for the whole time(players) they have a great potential due to age to go down in stats.

It just needs to be really clear the aims of the game, ie bringing new players up for the future, whilst letting them know that old players do retire!

i think itd be a lot easier if there was no finance.

Haha.. well there may as well not be in a way, if it'd free up some time for the others. Maybe just 50 form points and 2 physio points a week?

Don't forget we are trying to bring in the ability to purchase playing using $ASRL, so it does have it's uses.

But I do see where Maunde is coming from, it does make things complicated for something which shouldn't be.

Maybe a coach can choise either;

Option 1: 50 form and 1 physio
Option 2: 25 form and 2 physio

If you miss your training/physio for the week, well it's lost and unable to roll into the next weeks amount.

Yep, and maybe the money from articles, stuff you do around the forum could count as money to buy new players if the scheme is implemented. That is a reward for all the active coaches and would certainly help those teams like Geelong with active coaches get a better outfit.

I've said it a million times, the whole playing purchasing thing only works if money has more than just that use.

I, for one, would never accept or give money for another player when trading would get me what I wanted.

Well there is little to no use now for money other then form and physio.

I mean, we don't use our stadiums so we can't upgrade them...

Lets save a heap of trouble and get rid of $ASRL and implement a new system. It's save Theo a fuck load of time

i agree with things becoming over complicated. just upgrade that people have two decent salaryed players become off contract and trash this crappy 50 years of contracts.

It's all well and good to say 'let's bring in a new system', but I don't exactly see an alternative system being proposed.

Its ok saying release two decent salaried players each season but Div 1 sides might have to release their best players each year, whereas Prem League teams have so many good players it means nothing to them.

i think itd be soooooooo much better if we said, lets not buy form, lets not buy physio points. itd be so much better and so much more dramatic. like say gold coast is carving with johns and then johns gets a 6 week injury, thats gonna be something to write about thats for sure, and its more realistic. i dont see the broncos saying, yeah lockyer is injured but we got a fair bit of money so we will be able to spend it on making lockyer fitter.

You're kidding, right? Players recover from injuries in real life quickly because they're sent to better physiotherapists and work on getting back on deck. Joey returned earlier than expected from a broken jaw this year, and Webcke came back after only a week.

And take kearns this week, he's been put through the hyperbaric chamber in order to quicken his recovery time...maybe you could change it to make it only a 50/50 chance that the player recovers quicker?

ya, hyperbaric chambers and the like wouldnt come cheap, as well as hours of physio etc.etc.

And even still, despite all that expense, its not certain that the player will recover enough to play anyway....

admitedly some players will use all the trricks of the trade to try to make it back and still not getthere, buuut i can promise you that any injury that would see average joe out for a week, a professional player will play that next week, Kearns is struggling to make it into this weeks game from an injury that wihout the constant physio and time in the chamber would see him out for around 4 weeks.....

with injuries you could make it that they can't be at the phsyio two weeks in a row.

Doing something like this would only complicate the ASRL because then Chris will need to remember who's been healed each week.

Alot of NRL clubs have good physios and technics like chambers and such. The thing is we shouldn't look into realism too much because there has been plently of times where injured players have taken the field in the NRL, like Webke and his broken arm... because we've got so system in place to 'drug' players up

Maybe rather than purchasing physio and training week by week, clubs can 'buy' facilities from their ASRL cash, with these facilities allowing them a certain number of physios/training points per week.

If you've got good depth, you could buy the cheapest physio (or not buy one at all) - whilst clubs with a lot of stars might buy the most expensive physio.

Yeah that'd be interesting. It could be like one of those things you build up over time. It would probly be one thing that you'd only implement for premier league, otherwise you'll have all these new coaches comming in and saying.. what the fuck. lol. It could be the number of physio's you pay each week that allows you how many injuries you could treat. Something like each physio is on 5k a week, and then to use them you have to pay an extra sum. Could be a way to keep our funds down a bit.

well mr padds, of course the extra players put off contract in band a or band b would be less valuable than premier league players for div 2. say a 300k and 270k for premier and a 270k (or closest to that salary player) and a 235k player in band A for div 2.

Haha, so they'd have to name something better than an 8/7? lol

I didn't mind the old system, save that the same people were essentially coming off contract every year.

I like the realism that it brings to the game if we start buying facilities/trainers rather than form. It would allow active coaches to prepare for the future by improving facilities over time. I would also like to see a Rookie development squad. This would be a better way of improving rookies in my opinion. I think once a rookie starts their downward spiral they are just going to keep going as a shit player wont earn any POM's. Ive had rookies who dropped in stats despite being near 120 form all season and scoring plenty of points.

The majority of the time the same people were coming off contract, but every now and then it'd be mixed up.

How did the old system work???

It was based around different 'bands' of players. Each side had to release a Band A (player over a certain value in salary), a few Band B's, and if they had an RSC, some Band Cs.